THANKS for stopping by, I do my best to acknowledge when someone leaves a comment,you do not have to be a member here & everyone is welcome.
Ps: This site is monitored but not actively posting on a regular basis. Mostly these are stories & some photos saved from a defunct site known as Verdun Connections which was on MSN Groups initially then on a social network called Multiply.

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Roots Beneath the Pavement

I have borrowed the book "Roots Beneath the Pavement" by Laurel Buck from the Verdun Library (above the SHGV) corner Bannantyne and Brown Blvd. The book is about her life in Verdun in the 30s and 40s. I heard so much about this book on this site that I had to read it. I only read the first pages and I am sure to enjoy it as Laurel is from Claude Street wich is just around the corner from Galt where I lived and we seemingly are from the same era. I will let you know my impression after reading the complete book.

Guy

P.N. The library number is 923.7714 BUCK and may be available from your local library or can be purchased from a local bookstore.

5 comments:

Thanks for posting the information on this book,....Maggie actually got a copy directly from Laurel Buck a couple of years ago, and I think she gave us info on how to contact Laurel Buck herself and we could purchase the book directly from her at a reasonable price (I don't recall the price right now I think $20 ish.??) I also never acted on the info at the time,but I will make a point of trying our library here & see if they have it.Now that you have prompted my memory again,...Thanks Guy

Guy she also wrote a couple of other books about her memories in Quebec around the Megantic region ,..she sounds like a neat old gal with some real memories of her days in Quebec... The title of another book is "Stream of Memories" ....(she wrote several too,but these deal with her Quebec / Verdun roots.... HV&RV

Les,Laurel Buck mentions at the beginning of her book under the heading of "Acknowlegments" about another one of her books "Stream of Memory" as you mention above. Perhaps Maggie would like to advise where Laurel's books can be purchased. Also mentioned in Laurel's book is her involvement with the YMCA in the 30s and I am looking for information about Norman Bethune's involvement with the YMCA in the 30's as a volunteer physician for needy Verdunites during the depression. He would have had a clinic at the Y on Saturday's in the 30s. I have been looking in the Guardian but have not found anything. Guy

Hi Guy I think you posted some of the info on Norman Bethune's Verdun Connection,didn't you? I would imagine there may be information on him through the History section of the YMCA site,.I know we've posted photos of the Y buildings which I think came from that site,So it might be worth a try. HF&RV

I have finished reading Laurel Buck's book "Roots Beneath he Pavement" and here are my comments:The book contains only 100 pages or so and relates her life living in Verdun in the 30s and 40s mainly on Claude street wich I can relate to having lived in that area during the same period. It is a nostalgic description of her day to day exhistance during the depression years of the 30s and the war years of the 40s, her elementary school years at Bannantyne school where I myself lived facing the school on Galt avenue, her attending the YMCA, also a hangout of mine, the dancing on Friday nights, the boardwalk, the Pavillion, St Clements Church,VHS, Buz Beurling, Maynard Ferguson and all those places most of us Verdunites are familiar with. It also relates her returning to these spots in later years and how things have changed. I recommend you get hold of that book as I think you will enjoy it.

Guy

P.N. In the preface it is mentioned that Serge Durflinger the writer who also wrote a couple of books on Verdun and who was a founding member of our society (SHGV) and who is still a member, supplied the photos in her book. It's a small world.